Tony Stewart will return to racing this weekend after missing the last three Sprint Cup events following the Aug. 9 accident in which his sprint car struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr.

Stewart-Haas Racing announced Thursday that Stewart would return to the seat of the SHR No. 14 car at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Sprint Cup practice and qualifying is set for Friday with the race scheduled for Sunday night. Stewart is scheduled to hold a press conference at the track at 1 p.m.

During an Empire Super Sprints event, Ward and Stewart were battling for position when Ward’s car wrecked near the wall between turns 1 and 2. Ward got out of his car, approached on foot the cars that were running under caution and was struck by Stewart’s car. The 20-year-old driver was pronounced dead upon arrival at a nearby hospital 45 minutes after being struck.

While Stewart has announced his return to racing, he still has not been officially cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in Ward's death. The investigation is ongoing — the sheriff’s office said Thursday that there was nothing new to report and no timetable for when the investigation will be complete — although in the days after the tragedy, authorities said they had no facts that would support probable cause for criminal charges.

Stewart, who is winless and 26th in the Cup standings, would need a waiver from NASCAR to be eligible to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup with a win in one of the final two regular-season events. NASCAR, which requires a driver to qualify or compete in each race, has said it would not make a decision on a waiver until Stewart decides if he was coming back during the regular season.

The 43-year-old Stewart, a three-time Cup champion, has 48 career wins in 542 career starts. He missed the last 15 races of last season because of a broken leg he suffered in a sprint-car crash.

Stewart returned to Cup racing at the start of this year and to sprint-car racing last month.

He has not raced in any event — sprint cars nor stock cars — since the tragedy.